this is my best friend, meschelle norris. >> i'm meschelle norris. [applause] >> i feel like i should say and you're listening to. >> the response you hear robert seeing and will melissa block so it takes a second. we're so thrilled not only to talk to you today but also to talk with each other and share with you the things we talk about all the time among ourselves and then some. so we're just going to get started. because we want to make the best use of our time and hopefully we'll be joined in a few minutes by other dear friend, mary wolf, who has been getting us involved at this episode that we're here for today. meschelle and i set out a couple years ago to write out books both knowing we were insane to try it because we were writing books and working full time about stories that kept slipping away from our fingers. in my case it was stories in politics and breakthroughs in the 2008 elections and -- here's mary wolf, our dear friend. come up and join us. yay! [applause] >> anyway, we'll settle that in a moment. >> hi, sweetie. >> i'll dance unti